“Tubular Bells” is the name of that iconic theme that plays in William Friedkin’sThe Exorcist, but had things gone another way, the director may never have secured the rights to the song.The Exorcistis one of thegreatest horror movies of all time. It’s hard to argue that considering its 10 Academy Award nominations with two wins, as well the largefranchise ofThe Exorcistmoviesit spawned. Decades later, no exorcism movie, and there are dozens, has come close to eclipsing Friedkin’s horrifying, fantastic creation.
Just about everything inThe Exorcistis memorable or influential.Regan’s (Linda Blair) head spinning and pea soup puking, the terrifying face of the pallid demon, “The power of Christ compels you!”, and more are as much a part of movie history as the film itself. The parts are not better than the whole, but they’re pretty great. The theme forThe Exorcistis an iconic bit of music as well.Horror movie themes can addso much to even an already great movie, and “Tubular Bells” is no different. Thankfully, Friedkin nabbed it just in time.
Tubular Bells Is An Iconic And Critical Piece Of The Exorcist
The Song Only Plays Twice In The Movie
Tubular Bellsis the debut album of Mike Oldfield, released on 11 July 2025, and it happened to be the first album for the new record label, Virgin Records. There are only two songs on the record. Side 1 has “Tubular Bells, Part One” (25:30), and side 2 has “Tubular Bells, Part Two” (23:22). Oldfield plays nearly every instrument on the album, which isat times eccentric and off-kilter but completely dynamic and a majorly fun listen for the nearly 50 minutes of its run.The Exorcistonly uses the introduction to Part One as its theme.
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Despite how closely associated with the film the music is, it only appears in two very brief scenes. The first is at the beginning of the film when Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) is walking home from her film set. There have not been many supernatural happenings in the story yet, but this is the first time Chris spots Father Karras (Jason Miller). The tapping pianos of the opening of Tubular Bells combined with long, low bass lines create an unnerving and mysterious atmosphere forThe Exorcist.
There are only 17 minutes of music in the entirety ofThe Exorcist’s 2-hour runtime.
The song implies that though things have not gone wrong quite yet, Chris (and the audience) are on the verge of stumbling into something terrifying.The music could be the sound of the sidewalk crumbling behind Chris as she walks, getting ever closer to sucking her down below to somewhere horrifying. The second use of the song comes late in the film, just before the credits, and only a piece of the song is heard. It’s just enough though to leave the audience feeling a bit unsettled as they exit the theater or turn off the TV.
William Friedkin Happened Across Tubular Bells Almost By Chance
Interestingly enough, William Friedkin stumbled upon “Tubular Bells” basically by accident.Tubular Bellswas a white-label release, meaning there was no identifying information on the record when Friedkin first heard it (viaFarOutMagazine). Friedkin had originally commissioned someone else to write the score for the film, Lalo Schifrin, composer of the iconicMission: Impossibletheme that opens those movies. Friedkin said about the theme (viaVice),
“I had commissioned Lalo Schifrin to write a score, and I didn’t like the score. I felt the need for something that was akin to Brahams’s ‘Lullaby’—a kind of childhood feel.”
Friedkin went to see the head of Warner and tried to explain his dilemma. He was directed to a large room stacked with demos, which is where he came across the white-label Mike Oldfield album. Friedkin tried it out and was immediately captured by the hook, and knew right away that was the sound he wanted for his film. Friedkin and Warner ended up winning the rights to the song for use inTheExorcist.
According to Friedkin, the record ended up selling between 10 and 20 million records, a number corroborated by theMikeOldfieldwebsite,which put the actual sales number at 16 million, no doubt, thanks in large part to its presence inThe Exorcist.
The Exorcist: Believer Updated Tubular Bells For The 2023 Movie
Believer Uses A Remix Of The Song Multiple Times
“Tubular Bells” returnedforThe Exorcist: Believer, updated into a modern version for the first return to the franchise since the 2005 Paul Schrader directed,Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist. The song first comes up when Victor (Leslie Odom Jr.) drives to meet Chris MacNeil.As he’s driving a remix by David Wingo and Amman Abbasi, “Tubular Bells - Chris MacNeil”, begins playing while he drives, picking up until he reaches his destination.
It’s heard three more times throughout the film, when Chris goes to the bedroom to confront the demon, during the climactic exorcism, and then during the credits. This is a much higher usage rate than the original song inThe Exorcist, and the constant callbacks to the original film are part of what makesBelievergrating as a sequel. However, those piano chords are so eerie and mysterious, that it’s hard not to be drawn in each timeThe Exorcist: Believerbrings them back into the movie.
InThe Exorcist, the song gets pumping right away, adding a lot of forward momentum to the mystery and the story.
The remixed version of “Tubular Bells” isn’t too far off the original, but it starts much slower. InThe Exorcist, the song gets pumping right away, adding a lot of forward momentum to the mystery and the story. InThe Exorcist: Believer, it creeps up quietly, silently signaling to the audience that the characters in the film are soon going to learn what fans ofThe Exorcisthave known all along; there is a demon present.
Mike Oldfield Is Still Recording Music In The Bahamas
Oldfield Nearly Retired Before Coming Back To Record Tubular Bells IV
AfterTubular Bells, Mike Oldfield produced 24 more studio albums, includingTubular Bells II(1992),Tubular Bells III(1998),The Millenium Bell(1999), andTubular Bells 2003(2003), each of which are part of theTubular Bellsseries. He was nominated for two Grammy Awards, winning in 1975 for “Tubular Bells” in the Best Instrumental Composition category.Tubular Bellswas also inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame as an album.Oldfield only scored one movie in his life,The Killing Fields, which resulted in him receiving a Golden Globe nomination.
Mike Oldfield released a “Tubular Bells” 50th Anniversary reissue with an additional unreleased 8-minute track, the “Introduction toTubular Bells 4” in 2023. Oldfield worked onTubular Bells 4in 2017 but ended up canceling the project. His label said that the track (viaUDiscoverMusic),
“…may well be the last piece ever to be recorded by Oldfield.”
It seemed then, that Oldfield had retired, content to live a relatively isolated life in the Bahamas. However, there has been recent good news for Oldfield,The Exorcist, and music fans alike. In a 2024 interview withLouderSound, Oldfield said he was now working onTubular Bells IV,
“After all these years, I think I’ve finally solved the Tubular Bells sequence problem. That’s my big project.”
There’s no set date for release yet, but fans ofThe Exorcistand Mike Oldfield will be eagerly awaiting a chance to hear more from the iconic musician.
The Exorcist
Cast
The Exorcist is a supernatural horror film based on the novel released in 1971 and was directed by William Friedkin. When a young girl is passed by a powerful demon, two Catholic priests are brought to her home to attempt an exorcism to expunge the demon.
